fighting planes hovering
above, all primed to give battle on the slightest provocation, the
result of these forays was that a number of hotly-contested fights were
"pulled off" high in air.

One pilot brought down another enemy, and increased his score a peg,
always a matter of pride with a pilot of a fighting plane. And another
of the escadrille had the honor of getting above those observation
balloons before a couple of them could be hastily pulled down.

Two of his companions engaged the defending Teuton pilots, and fended
them off purposely, in order to permit the raid. The selected man
swooped down like a hawk, passed the Gotha guard, and managed to shoot
his bomb downward with unerring aim. One of the balloons was seen to
burst into flames, and the second must have met with a like fate, since
it was perilously near at the time, though the dense smoke obscured
everything.

All these things and more did Tom and Jack witness through their glasses
as those two days passed. Tom especially was waiting to have his wish
realized with as much calmness as he could summon.

"I think it will come to-night, Jack," he told his chum, on the second
afternoon, as they prepared to return to their lodgings.

"Then you believe there's some big move on tap, and that to-morrow a
battle will be commenced? And all for the possession of some old ruined
fort, perhaps, that is now only a mass of crumpled masonry and debris!"

"You mustn't forget, Jack, it is the famous name that counts with these
romantic Frenchmen. Douaumont and Vaux mean everything to them, even if
there is nothing but a great mound of stone, mortar and earth to tell
where each fort once stood."

"Yes, I suppose you're right, Tom; and then again I was forgetting that
the retaking of a prominent position which the Germans had captured
means a heartening of the whole army. I've heard them talking of
Mort-Homme, and Hill Three Hundred and Four, as if those were the most
precious bits of territory in all France."

"These are sometimes strategic points, you know, keys to a further
advance. But there comes the captain now, and he's got his eye on us, as
sure as you live!" ejaculated Tom, giving a little start, and turning a
shade paler than usual, owing to the excess of his emotions, and the
anticipation of hearing pleasant news.

The leader of the Lafayette Escadrille smiled as he drew near. He waited
until he could speak without being overheard, for it was not alwa